NPC Newsmaker plans focus on new campaign finance case before Supreme Court

With the U.S. Supreme Court about to hear argument on another case that could allow donors to give millions of dollars more than they now can contribute to federal campaigns, two experts on campaign-finance law plan to discuss the case of McCutcheon v. FEC and its impact on campaign-finance regulations at a National Press Club Newsmaker on Tuesday, Oct. 1, at 10 a.m. in the NPC's First Amendment Lounge.

Trevor Potter, a former Federal Election Commission chairman, served as comedian Stephen Colbert's election lawyer during the 2012 campaign. Potter also served as general counsel to Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain's 2000 and 2008 presidential runs, and is founding president and general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, which supports limits on campaign contributions.

Fred Wertheimer is founder and president of Democracy 21, an advocacy group that lobbies for stronger campaign-finance laws. A former president of Common Cause, he has led efforts to reduce the impact of money on politics for more than three decades.

The plaintiff in the case, Shaun McCutcheon, is a Republican donor who is asking the Supreme Court to allow him to contribute more than the $123,200 to candidates and parties he is now limited to under federal law. A decision overturning the limit would allow him and other individuals to contribute more than $3.5 million every two years -- the maximum donation to each candidate and party, according to the Campaign Legal Center.

The Court upheld the contribution limits in its landmark 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision. In the Citizens United case in 2010, the Court's Republican-appointed majority overturned earlier rulings and relaxed restrictions on independent corporate and union spending.

The Newsmaker panel is expected to be moderated by former Club President Jonathan D. Salant, who covers money and politics for Bloomberg News.